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jonathan
what's the difference
hello everybody :)
excuse for my stupid question. what is the difference between 'to be able to" and "to can" ?
thank you
7 de fev de 2015 01:11
Respostas · 6
3
There is no difference. English usually has many words to mean the same thing. They usually come from different languages which have influenced English. "Can" is used a lot more.
7 de fevereiro de 2015
Hey Jonathan,! They both mean the same thing, though as Edward said, can is more ccommon among native speakers. "Can" is a modal auxiliary verb and "to be able to" is just verb ‘to be’ + the adverb ‘able’ + the infinitive ‘to’.
6 de abril de 2015
thank's phil :)
CHYL : you're right :)
7 de fevereiro de 2015
That means there is no stupid question.
7 de fevereiro de 2015
Notice that "can" is defective, so it has no infinitive form, base form, or participles. It only has a present tense (which can also be used to refer to the future), a past tense, and a conditional.
7 de fevereiro de 2015
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jonathan
Habilidades linguísticas
Inglês, Francês, Russo
Idioma de aprendizado
Inglês, Russo
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